Condoms
by SS-HPFC
Summary: Louis receives a rather awkward letter from Teddy. For MopCat!


**For MopCat. Merry Christmas.  
**

* * *

Louis frowned as he looked at the small post-it notes stuck to the head of his four poster bed. He was barely halfway through the year and his list of things to do, along with a few reminders that he'd been procrastinating about 'remembering', had filled a post with the sticky notes. He sighed and randomly picked one, frowning when he read it.

_Write to Teddy._

Of all the notes... This one had to be the one he pulled most often. The ends were frayed and the sides were covered in various fingerprints and water stains. He'd remember making this particular reminder just a few months ago and it already looked the oldest.

With a scowl he pulled another note. The previous one had already dredged up memories he'd rather not reflect on and had left him with a rather nervous, and slightly guilty, feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hesitantly scanned it. It wasn't as bad as the previous one but it wasn't too much better.

_Complete an extra credit assignment with Karen._

This would be awkward. He shuddered at the thought of dealing with her unrequited affection for his various relatives. Once he made it extremely clear that he wasn't interested she took it upon herself to claim him as a best friend. And to do nothing more than discuss just how 'sexy' his cousin James looked in those robes.

If he wasn't mistaken, Fred had gotten a new haircut a few days earlier, courtesy of his sister Roxanne, and that was sure to be up for debate. He shuddered and grabbed his school bag, pulling a fancy dark quill and a spare bit of parchment out of it, and fell back on his bed. This was going to take a while.

And with a sigh he began to write.

It was a little bit more than awkward to open a present filled with the latest foreign condoms and a note saying:_wrap it tight!_ It was only made worse by three of his more immature cousins, despite one of them being older than him. Louis sighed and ran a hand through his short, curly red hair before retreating back to the comfort of his bedroom.

He tapped the now empty box with his wand four times, smiling slightly when it morphed into a letter. It wasn't quite as long as he'd hoped but it was a lot better than nothing. And like all of Teddy's letters, it started off with an incredibly corny joke. He chuckled and read on.

_I was starting to think you were mad at me about something. Especially since the last time I saw you, you looked sort of like you were in pain._

Louis cringed here.

_It was as if you had never seen two blokes kiss. I'll admit, it must look a little odd and you're probably wondering what spurred that little change. And okay, so maybe I should have given you a heads up. You are one of my closest friends after all. You know, I really wouldn't blame you if you were mad. _

This time Louis smiled. He could practically see the older boy grinning sheepishly as he scribbled absentmindedly on the crinkled paper.

_Well, I guess it's obvious that things didn't work out with Monica. You'd think that after twenty years of dealing with women I'd know more about them. Too bad she didn't think so. She got most her family to call me Slaglord. How immature is that? I think that's because it was her brother I was snogging. Bad choice on my part._

Louis clenched the paper, almost ripping it, as he grimaced. He huffed as the thought, "_It should have been me,_" ran through his head several times.

_I just figured maybe it would be nice to try something a little different. Who knows, I could become gay someday. Doubt it but you never know where life takes you. I could be living it up with some girl one day and waking up with you the next. That sounded a lot more lewd than I intended._

He snorted and rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, hoping to get rid of his blush. When that didn't work he took a deep breath and slowly blew it out his mouth. "_He already said it wasn't meant to be like that,_" he reminded himself.

_Besides, from what I hear the ladies are dying to get a shot with you. Feel free to thanks James for that little tidbit of info. Just make sure you don't get caught up. And remember those condoms are your friend._

Louis reread the letter several times before studying the messy signature at the end. His heart pounded in his chest as he frowned at the four letters right before the author's name. Love. He was probably thinking too hard into it but... There was hope. He smiled and began to draft a carefully created reply.

"You didn't really think that was your gift, did you?"

His eyes widened as a gift was thrown onto his bed. Maybe he wouldn't have to reply on paper after all.


End file.
